Jakarta – A team of researchers and volunteers at the Florida Natural History Museum discovered an ancient elephant grave that is about 5.5 million years old. This grave contains the fossilized remains of an elephant ancestor that has long been extinct.
Reported from detikINET, about 5.5 million years ago, an elephant ancestor named gomphotheres became extinct and died in a nearby prehistoric river in North Florida. The animals’ deaths are thought to have occurred at different times, but their bodies are in the same location and will be buried until early 2022.
At that time, the team found a gomphothere skeleton at the Montbrook fossil dig site. The fossilized skeleton consists of isolated fragments and bones.
A few days later, the volunteers came across a large foot-like object that was thought to be a gomphothere body part. Shortly after that, they then managed to find all the skeletons which were considered interesting.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime find. It’s the most complete gomphothere skeleton from this time period in Florida and among the best in North America,” said Jonathan Bloch, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Natural History Museum.
The team suspects the animal is not alone. From the skeletons they found, they suspected these belonged to one adult and approximately seven juveniles.
More in-depth studies were needed before the team could accurately determine the animal’s size. However, Bloch believes the adult specimen was about 2.4 meters tall including the tusks, and the skull measured more than 2.7 meters. To give you an idea, this animal was about the size of a modern African elephant.
“Modern elephants travel in herds and can be very protective of their young,” explains Rachel Narducci, manager of the vertebrate paleontology collection at the Florida Museum.
“But I don’t think it’s a situation where they all die at once. It’s like members of one or several packs are stuck in this one place at different times,” he explained.
“We’ve never seen anything like it at Montbrook. Usually, we only find one part skeleton at this site. Gomphotheres must have been buried quickly, or they may have become trapped in a low-flowing river bank,” Narducci added.
Gomphotheres and modern elephants are related to elephants collectively called the proboscidea. This elephant relative once inhabited most of the continent until humans arrived.
These large mammals first appeared in Africa, then spread throughout Europe and Asia, finally crossing the Bering Land Bridge into North America. During this time, they continued to develop and try to survive wherever they settled.
“We all generally know what mastodons and woolly mammoths looked like, but gomphotheres are not easy to categorize,” says Narducci. “They have a wide range of body sizes, and the shape of their tusks differs greatly between species.”
This discovery offers exciting prospects for future research. This research also provides an opportunity to learn more about the large animals that roamed North America long ago.
“The best part was sharing this discovery process with so many volunteers from across the state of Florida. Our goal was to assemble this gigantic skeleton and put it on display, taking its place alongside the iconic mammoths and mastodons already in the Florida Natural History Museum,” said Bloch.
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2023-06-08 16:00:59
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